All Kinds of Folks: Helper
Introduction Helper Folk: Helper folk are little folk who live with humans or near them, and help their neighbors with everyday tasks in exchange for food and gifts. Helper folk do chores around the house or the farm, and sometimes can serve as guardians as well. Abilities * Spell-Like Abilities: Helper folk can use the following spell-like abilities at will: Prestidigitation, Unseen Servant * Hidey-hole: Helper folk can use their Walk Unseen ability in urban or man-made terrain as well. * Eavesdropper: Helper folk are well-informed about the goings-on around their homes. Knowledge (Local) is always a class skill for them, and they gain a +2 bonus on perception checks to hear conversations or speech. * Guardian: Helper folk often serve as protectors as well as caretakers. They gain a +1 bonus to caster level when casting abjuration spells. Helper folk can ward an area and place it under their protection at will, as with an alarm spell set to mentally alert them. The effect lasts as long as the helper folk remains within the area. Examples Brownies are some of the most common helper folk in europe. They stand a bit more than a foot tall, and resemble miniature humans. They live inside the houses of humans, feeding on gifts left by the families and cobbling clothes out of discarded bits of fabric or garments. Brownies often see themselves as part of the family, even if the family never sees them, and they expect to be treated as a member of the family. They do their fair share of the chores, dusting, cleaning, and sometimes even washing dishes or clothes, and they get their fair share of the family’s food. If their gifts are referred to as payments, they may feel they are being treated as servants, and move on to a new family where their help will be more appreciated. If their family simply stops leaving gifts, the brownies may cause trouble, stop cleaning, or even start breaking or soiling things around the hose to show their displeasure. Kiwolatomuhsisok are new world little folk who live in small groups near human settlements, usually two to four families of 16-inch humanoids. Different members of the tribe will leave offerings of food, leather, pottery, or other gifts for the little folk. The little folk will then take the offerings and offer their help with chores around the village, sometimes harvesting the food from the gardens, cleaning, or mending. They make a sport of sneaking through the village playing tricks in the night, but these are harmless, generally good-natured pranks, like braiding a horse’s mane or tail, tying things together, or rearranging things in a house. The one leaving the most clever or entertaining prank being declared the winner. This sport keeps the little people’s skills of stealth and silence sharp. Kiwolatomuhsisok are very fond of children and will sometimes help spontaneously if they see a family takes good care of their children. Alux’ob are a mesoamerican type of little folk, which resemble mayan people eighteen inches tall, who make their own miniature versions of traditional clothes. They live in miniature villages out in remote natural places like forests and caves. A farmer can call for an alux by building a tiny house next to their fields for them to dwell in. An alux will move into the little house and live there for seven years, helping grow the crops, patrol the fields, and whistling to scare off predators and thieves in exchange for a portion of the yield. During the off season, the alux will return home village with their share of the yield to feed the alux’ob villagers before returning to the field as the growing season comes again. After seven years, the alux will depart back to their home village and family for good, sometimes playing tricks as they leave, depending on how they were treated.